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Jazz Mogul Wynton Marsalis: Sing Your Own Song, But Don’t Forget About That Swing
After finishing his lecture-performance at the Pulitzer Centennial Celebration at Harvard University on Saturday, jazz musician and educator Wynton Marsalis imparted a piece of wisdom to me: the Internet is not shortening our attention spans. Keep reading »
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Star Studded Cast of Journalists, Artists, Celebrate Pulitzer Centennial
Some of journalism’s biggest names commanding the nation’s most pressing news stories, along with dozens of renowned writers and artists, flocked Sanders Theatre this weekend for a star studded celebration of the Pulitzer Prize’s 100-year anniversary. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis performing at The Pulitzer Centennial
Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust will open the weekend with an introduction of Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis. Marsalis will reflect on the themes raised by “Blood on the Fields,” his epic oratorio of one couple’s journey from slavery to freedom-the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer. Keep reading »
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The Story Behind the First Pulitzer for Jazz
In 1997, for the first time in the history of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, the award went to a genre intimately bound up with the cultural, social and racial history of this country: jazz. Wynton Marsalis’s “Blood on the Fields,” an epic vocal-orchestral suite that dealt head-on with the tragedy of slavery, became not only the first jazz work to take the highest honor in American music but the first non-classical piece ever to win. Keep reading »
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Pulitzer changes put the emphasis on American music
In American journalism, the Pulitzer Prize towers over all other honors. In literature and drama, it conveys palpable prestige and often spikes sales.And in music . . . well, to put it kindly, the award has a checkered past. Keep reading »
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Jazz musician of the year: Wynton Marsalis
If everything had gone according to plan, Wynton Marsalis would have taken a long, deep breath in 1997, stepping out of the public eye for a sorely needed sabbatical. Keep reading »
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Marsalis Unbound
Following a limited number of concert performances, Wynton Marsalis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning composition “Blood on the Fields” has finally arrived on CD, allowing it the wider audience it deserves. Keep reading »
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Jazz at the Center
When Wynton Marsalis received the Pulitzer Prize recently for his three-and-a-half slavery oratorio, Blood on the Fields, he was the first jazz composer ever so recognized (Duke Ellington was specifically rejected by the board). But Marsalis - whose success at 35 as a composer, popularizer, teacher and institution-builder is unrivaled—is still an angry young man, albeit a charming and eloquent one. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis is first jazz musician to win Pulitzer Prize
Wynton Marsalis says becoming the first jazz artist to win a Pulitzer Prize is not about him—it’s about the music. Marsalis won the prestigious prize for music for his epic jazz opera. Blood on the Fields, which focuses on the tragedy of slavery in America. Until now, the Pulitzer Prize for music has traditionally recognized classical compositions. Keep reading »
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Let Freedom Swing
From coast to coast, newspapers trumpeted the same remarkable tune: A jazz artist had won a prestigious award hitherto given only to classical musicians. “Marsalis swings a Pulitzer,” noted USA Today, evoking the jazz idiom with its choice of verb. Keep reading »